Gardening and History at Gen. Marshall’s Estate in Downtown Leesburg

“Valerie Beaudoin, left, executive director of the George C. Marshall International Center, and Jackie Ellis, gardening coordinator at Dodona Manor.”

While the official start of spring is more than a month away, the staff and volunteers at Leesburg's George C. Marshall Center at Dodona Manor are already making plans for this year's garden.

For Marshall, who served as a five-star general, secretary of state, secretary of defense and U.S. Army chief of staff, gardening was a passion. Much of his time in Leesburg was spent tending to the flowers and vegetables he grew in his backyard, according to local historian and author Rachel Thompson.